I never imagined human brains worked on algorithms, but the intelligence community research agency thinks so, and wants help in figuring out the process to help build smarter computers.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity kicked off a project Monday focused on the neural algorithms that form the basis of inference and recognition in the brain, “as a potential basis for creating new types of machine learning algorithms that exhibit more human-like performance characteristics than today's leading systems.”

The agency said, “Many contemporary theories of neural information processing suggest that within a given cortical region or cognitive/sensory domain, the brain employs hierarchical algorithms composed of repeated instances of a limited set of computing ‘primitives’ or modules.”

IARPA wants to figure out how these “cortical primitives” work and then apply them to computing -- a rather staggering effort.

recommended for you

Bob Brewin joined Government Executive in April 2007, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience as a journalist focusing on defense issues and technology. Bob covers the world of defense and information technology for Nextgov, and is the author of the “What’s Brewin” blog.

FROM OUR SPONSORS

sponsored

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

By using this service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or
otherwise objectionable. Although Nextgov does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has
no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to
be in violation of this rule.

Thank you for subscribing to newsletters from Nextgov.com.
We think these reports might interest you:

Data-Centric Security vs. Database-Level Security

Database-level encryption had its origins in the 1990s and early 2000s in response to very basic risks which largely revolved around the theft of servers, backup tapes and other physical-layer assets. As noted in Verizon’s 2014, Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR)1, threats today are far more advanced and dangerous.

PIV- I And Multifactor Authentication: The Best Defense for Federal Government Contractors

This white paper explores NIST SP 800-171 and why compliance is critical to federal government contractors, especially those that work with the Department of Defense, as well as how leveraging PIV-I credentialing with multifactor authentication can be used as a defense against cyberattacks

This research study aims to understand how state and local leaders regard their agency’s innovation efforts and what they are doing to overcome the challenges they face in successfully implementing these efforts.

The U.S. healthcare industry is rapidly moving away from traditional fee-for-service models and towards value-based purchasing that reimburses physicians for quality of care in place of frequency of care.